Guardians and Destroyers
by muggleborn.dragon.ryder
Summary: Jack Frost's life is anything but boring. Being a Guardian isn't exactly easy, and it's a hell of a lot harder when you've got to worry about the Destroyers, Pitch Black's last, best weapon before he died. SEQUEL TO "Our Duty is to Protect."
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I was thinking a lot in these past few days about 'Our Duty is to Protect' and how much I enjoyed writing it. So then I decided to write a sequel. No idea where the ideas came from. I know one person suggested I write one where Jack's dad breaks out of prison, so that's where that part came from. And everybody else really wanted to learn more about Jack's past. **

**Also, for those of you who entered this story without reading Our Duty is to Protect first, you don't have to. All you have to know is that **

**1. Jack's dad was abusive**

**2. There have been name changes**

**3. Ashton is a cancer survivor. Ashton is Bunnymund, Tanya is Tooth, Sandy is Sandman, Mr. North is North, Heather is the nameless sister, Jamie is Jamie. LOL. Also, the only thing that will really help you understand this one if you haven't read our duty is to protect is just that you get to see some characters have much deeper personalities than is portrayed here. Also, it's been a month since the battle with Pitch, but Pitch is dead, unlike in the movie.**

* * *

"Ten…"

Only ten seconds.

I clutched my glass tighter, grinning.

"Nine…"

This was going to be great…I could sense it already.

"Eight…"

I caught first Tanya's eye, then Ashton's and grinned at them.

Tanya gave me a ready smile back, but Ashton's was small. Probably because a few weeks ago we had had a big brawl in the middle of the hallway, that had caused me to get so mad I'd caused a blizzard around me and a whole bunch of kids saw me. So we had to wipe a ton of people's memories, which made Tanya a little mad seeing as she IS the Guardian of Memories.

"Seven…" Heather was still counting.

I shot her a smile I knew she wasn't looking for. Her eyes sought Jamie.

"Six…" she said.

I gave Jamie a huge thumbs-up.

Only a few seconds left!

"Five…four…three…two…"

Please let this be a good one, I prayed. Please, please. That's all I really want this year. You can do that can't you?

"ONE!" We all shouted in unison.

Sandy blew open a little party blower.

Sandy Matthews was a mute. He was really funny, though, even if he couldn't talk.

He was a good friend, and even better? A Guardian. Of dreams.

Jamie was my best friend but he was a freshman and I'm a junior. Well, soon, I'd be a senior and he'd be a sophomore which kind of made me worried.

He'd been the school bully's target up until I'd become his friend and told them to shove off.

Ashton Briars was pretty nice, but our relationship is kind of frosty. No pun intended.

Well, you know all about the brawl in the hall, but even before that we hated each other. Well, I hated him. Tanya insists he was jealous of me, but I don't see it. Like, at all.

Ashton was also a Guardian. He's the Guardian of Hope. He's the LEAST HOPEFUL PERSON I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE so don't ask me how he got his title.

Tanya Roberts was really cute and she's the Guardian of Memories. She's the first female Guardian.

Mr. North wasn't here, but he's the Guardian of Wonder and I was the Guardian of Fun.

My name's Jack Frost.

I was the Guardian of Fun, as I mentioned before, but what IS a Guardian? Well, basically, we Guardians protected teens.

We protected them from making the wrong choices, like taking the first step to becoming an alcoholic or hooking up with an abusive guy.

We were all just normal people, though.

Like right now we were acting like normal teens at my house and had just counted down the seconds to midnight.

Meaning we were all dead tired, but none of us were going to admit it, I thought.

Heather is my sister. Heather Frost.

So there you have it. All of us Guardians and Heather and Jamie.

I sighed. We all clinked wine glasses together and drank out of them.

Half of us are underage, so it wasn't real wine, but it was sparkling white grape juice. And it tasted nasty, I thought, pulling the glass away and retched.

Ashton shot me a smirk. "Aw, is the taste too much for little baby Frost?"

Okay, so maybe we had attempted to get along last year, but that didn't mean anything.

It was 2013 now. Officially. Which meant I technically didn't have to try anymore. I slammed my glass down. "God, where'd you get this? It tastes a billion years old. Get something better next time, eh, Briars?" It was him that brought it, which delights me that I hate it. Gives me a chance to taunt him just a bit.

"I think it's good," Heather remarked, tipping her glass back and draining it in one gulp. "Give me yours." She reached for my glass.

I snatched it away. "There might really be alcohol in here if you can think this is good. This is garbage. You actually like it?"

Heather smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Exactly as I suspected," Tanya reported, checking her watch. "Exactly two minutes into the new year and you and Ashton are getting into it once again."

"Hey, shut up," I told her, but I was smiling.

Ashton swatted at her. "Oh, shut _up."_

"Okay, now they're united on something," Jamie pointed out quietly. Jamie was incredibly shy. He spoke a little more around the Guardians now, but he's still pretty shy.

Tanya laughed. "You have a point, Jamie."

Finally, we broke up and the others left, leaving just me and Heather.

Jamie hitched a ride home with Tanya and Ashton and Sandy drove home themselves.

I called for them to be careful then slammed the door shut on them.

Heather laughed. "Well, that was fun. I liked your friends."

I tried to keep Heather as separated from my life with the Guardians and the wintry powers and stuff as I possibly can but ever since last month that's been kind of hard. It was always different with Jamie; he acts like he can take care of himself.

But I feel it's my job to protect Heather as the older sibling and boy.

I gave her a tired grin. "Excellent."

I ran upstairs to my own room and fell asleep in my clothes. I didn't wake up til noon the next morning, so I guess it's a pretty good thing that yesterday was Saturday. I yawned and plucked a few pieces of lint off the clothes I'd worn last night, and brushed my hair.

I wondered if I could get the other Guardians, minus Mr. North to come over and hang out sometime. And Jamie too of course.

Last night was the only time they have ever been to my house and Ashton was really interested by everything, which was kinda weird but hey, whatever.

He threw boomerangs and egg-shaped bombs – I was cool with him being fascinated by my house.

Then again, I suppose it doesn't really get much weirder than me over here with my staff that sprays frost.

I grabbed up said staff, which was in quarter form and slid it in my hoodie pocket. Just in case.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Filler. **

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I decided to go for a walk and as I passed by Tanya's house I knocked on her door. "Hey," I said and smiled at her.

She smiled back. She looked perfect in a green shirt with a pair of blue jeans. It actually looked really great, I thought, but maybe I was willing to be complimentary of her because I really liked her. I had the biggest crush on her since eighth grade, a memo she still hasn't gotten even though she has my memories. I suppose the real reason she hasn't noticed is because I have put so much darn effort in hiding it from her. It's something no one else about me knows.

"What are you doing here, Jack?" she asked and I said, "Want to go for a walk?"

She nodded and told me, "Oh! Wait right here!"

She went back in and arrived three minutes later carrying a pair of green Converse sneakers that she slipped on over bare feet with vibrant green toenails that match her Converse.

She went away with me and I glanced at her, then quickly looked away again.

"Hey Tanya?"

"Yeah?"

"You're the Memory Guardian, right?"

"Yes." I could tell by her voice she was chuckling.

"Well, when you see people's memories, do you see inside their minds? Read their emotions and crap?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Oh."

We lapsed back into silence for a while, leaving me to wrack my brain for a new topic. Something that would interest her. "So, how do you get the memories? Where are they, how—?"

She grinned at my question. "Well, it's pretty simple. Memories are located in two places in your body, the teeth and the hair. I use the teeth but I could use the hair if I wanted. You take the hair and put it in a bottle, a different bottle for a separate teenager. Then you label it with the person's name and keep adding teeth or hairs. It works really well, but only the person whose memory it is can open the bottle, besides me. And I only open the bottle to help the teens remember what's important."

"That's…that's really cool." I told her and it was.

She grinned proudly. "I know, right?"

There was a moment of silence. "What about you?"

"Huh?"

"You're the Guardian of Fun, right? What do you do?"

"Uh…I know I'm really good at creating snowballs." I told her lamely.

"No, no, no that's not what I meant," she was smiling though so I guess it wasn't too stupid. "I meant if you're the Guardian of Fun how do you…what do you…?"

I smiled, then shrugged. "I'm not sure. I know I can use snow to force people to have fun. But a lot of the time I choose not to, because you know it's their choice. But…"

I stopped.

"What?"

"Nothing," I said.

We kept going and I asked, "Say do you want to come over to my house tonight? We can invite the other Guardians too," I added hastily because I had fought fear himself last month and yet I was scared to death at the idea of being alone with Tanya.

She smiled widely. "Sure!" Her teeth were perfect and white and even, I noticed but of course they must be. Good for keeping memories clear.

For some reason, this thought struck me and I wanted to hear her say it. "Hey since you use teeth instead of hair…if a person's teeth are white, does the memory come across clear? And when they're brown does it come across hazy? Or is it the same for all of them?"

"You got it." She grinned. "It's clearer when they're white. Yours happen to sparkle like freshly fallen snow." She grinned at me again, flashing her perfect white teeth.

"I will tell the other Guardians, except North."

"Are we really ousting him?"

"Jack, he doesn't have the same—

"I know." I put my hands up above me, showing her I was surrendering. "I know. Shut up."

She laughed but she swatted at me.

Then we came to a stop outside the movie theater and looked up at whatever was playing. She wrinkled her nose at the options and said, "Let's keep moving all those movies suck."

"I saw good reviews—

"Jack, let's keep moving."

I laughed and walked off with her then I saw the park.

"Hey!" I called, then dashed inside.

"Jack." She called lamely, but she followed.

I sent a volley of snow at her and saw her grinning.

I did a quick little fist-pump in celebration, then went to sit the slide, but before I could, something cold and wet hit the back of my head and I looked at her.

She was smiling again and ran for it as I blew on a snowball and shot it at her.

Eventually we both ran out of steam and I dropped her off at her house and then walked home myself.

When I got there, Mom looked from her magazine. "Hi, Jack," she greeted calmly, then turned the page. "Where were you?"

"With a friend." I told her.

I went to go upstairs, then added, "Hey is it ok if a few of my friends come over tonight?"

She nodded. "That's fine, Jack."

Then she said, "You know it's strange. You distance yourself from the children at school so much and yet you have all these friends."

I shrugged. I hadn't told Mom about the Guardians.

The most she knew was that Sandy, Tanya and Ashton weren't completely human. She didn't even know about anything else, but it's hard to keep winter power from your mom.

I just didn't want to worry her. I had had a LOT of explaining to do last month, in December, when I fought fear himself, Pitch Black. I'd been at the school that day and stayed through the night, helping the Guardians and trying to protect the kid.

Yeah, kid – only Jamie stuck around, not wanting us to face it alone.

I guess he didn't get the memo that we all had weird powers, because he insisted. Not to mention he was a pretty good fighter with a little purple and orange lamp.

The memory would've made me smile but it was the fact that that fight had scared the heck out of me that stopped me from it.

I went upstairs.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Um, ok, wow. I hate this story. I hate it even more than I hate any of my others right now. It's stupid! :P :'( :'( God I hate my writing :( And no, that is not me fishing for compliments or anything, cuz I know people hardly read the ANs. I do though :D I'm OCD like that, except for not really.**

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The Guardians came over around 7:30, each of them declining any food Mom offered.

I wanted to tell them to relax and have fun, but then reflected that, if I were in their shoes, I'd feel pretty awkward.

So I bit my tongue.

I led them down to the kitchen, where our table tennis table was tucked away into a corner of until we finally put it back in the garage again.

Sandy's eyes lit up.

Tanya looked excited. "Ooh. Ping Pong?" She guessed.

"If you want." I didn't mention that I never played.

"Awesome." She said.

Ashton gave me a pained look. I suspected he wasn't that good, either.

Sandy was actually the best, with wicked serves and quick, aggressive returns like he wanted to watch the ball die slowly. Tanya was pretty good. Ashton was just okay. I was horrible, because every time the ball came at me, I flinched. Eventually, I just sat out and commentated through Tanya and Ashton's game.

"And Briars returns the ball and Robertson does a wicked serve. And Robertson gets a point, that's five to zip, Briars is sucking." I shot him a look and he scowled at me. Whoa. I guess he didn't like losing.

"And Robertson serves and Briars returns, and Robertson does the same, and Robertson scores another point!"

"The score is now six to zilch." Tanya said unnecessarily.

"I KNOW." Ashton snapped. He served the ball with unnecessary force and Tanya had to back away as it hit the wall rebounded back to Ashton.

"Seven to zip." I announced. "Go to ten or save some face?"

Ashton scowled and sat down precariously in a chair.

Tanya looked to Sandy, whom nobody had yet beaten. "Come on, little man. Tanya is at her best tonight." She boasted.

Sandy smiled slightly, as though unsure whether or not that was alright.

"Jack?" a voice called.

Everyone turned to look. Mom stood in the doorway.

"Jack?"

I looked at her. "Uh, Mom? Is everything okay? Are we being too loud…? If we are, I swear we'll…" But somehow I didn't think that was what she wanted to talk about with me.

"No. No. You guys are fine. Keep…keep playing all of you."

The Guardians nodded and Sandy served as we left.

I heard the familiar ball bouncing back and forth on the creaky, plastic ping-pong table as we left.

Mom carefully shut the door. I noticed a newspaper clipping lying on the coffee table and picked it up.

"I don't think you should read that."

I looked down at it, sure I was about to see something terrible – but there was only a picture of an empty prison cell.

Above that were the terrible words: BRIAN FROST'S CELL FOUND EMPTY.

"In the early hours of yesterday morning, Brian Frost, arrested six months ago for the attempted murder of his son, escaped from his prison cell. The authorities are doing all they can to catch the escaped prisoner. We ask the citizens to remain calm and call the authorities if you see him."

My hands were trembling as I finished it, and then I dropped the newspaper clipping and ran toward the bathroom.

I lifted up the lid of the toilet and vomit and tears mixed in the bowl as I hurled. When I was done, I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and saw Heather standing in the doorway. "Jack?"

I sighed and stood. "Yes?"

"What's wrong?"

"It's nothing."

I pushed past her and walked back into my second life, the one I lived with the Guardians where I was a winter spirit with no dad, instead of a scared brown-haired boy with a highly abusive father.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, when I woke up, it was a few minutes before I remembered why I was so scared.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks: Dad was out of prison.

That man who called himself a father had broken out of prison.

I lay in bed like that for a few minutes; before Mom called up that somebody was here to see me. I jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes and grabbed my staff. I decided to leave my hair be, thinking it was a good chance that it wasn't Tanya.

I went downstairs and saw Jamie standing in the doorway, grinning shyly. I grinned at him, too and said, "Come on in, dude! You planning to freeze out there?" I slammed the door behind me and I saw Jamie shiver slightly in the icy draft I let in.

"Sorry," I muttered and he shook his head quickly.

"No, it's fine," he muttered.

"Okay, then, well, what do you want to do?" I announced. "I mean, we could do anything – at least until Christmas break ends and as long as Mom doesn't notice whatever we're doing, it's ok."

He chuckled at that and for a few minutes, we just sat there in silence, not awkward or uncomfortable, just companionable.

At least until my sister's bedroom door opened.

Like I said, I tried to keep her as separate as possible from my friends, the ones who know about the Guardians. The only thing Mom and Heather knew about me was that I had winter powers.

That was all they knew. The rest? Forget it. Telling them that there were Guardians of teenhood was going to be bad enough. Explaining to them that it was a harrowing job full of near-death encounters was going to make them both put their feet down.

Yeah, right! As if I could refuse! I'd already tried to refuse it once and failed.

Heather walked downstairs happily, grinning at us. "Jamie!" she hugged him quickly and sat down next to us on the couch. "What are you guys doing? Can I join?" she was full of boundless energy but unlike most, I didn't mind her joining in. She wasn't all…you know…the way most girls her age are, she was just my sister, Heather.

"We actually don't know what we're gonna do yet," I told her. "Certainly not Ping-Pong again."

She laughed. She had stayed upstairs for most of it but had come down often enough to witness my disastrous Ping-Pong skills.

"Shut up," I told her while Jamie looked confused. I gave him a brief description of my failures and he looked amused. "Should've known," he said.

"We could go outside," Heather suggested. "Or go into my room, turn off all the lights and live like moles for the afternoon."

That was the best option, so we went up to her room and were goofing off on her laptop, looking up the most random things until we found a weird video on YouTube that said something about a boy getting an arse-kicking.

Curious, I clicked on the video and waited for it to load.

When it did, it pulled up a blurry image of a boy I recognized, with brown hair and eyes and he was being beaten to a bloody pulp by a guy who conveniently had his face away from the camera the whole time.

The other guy was laughing so hard he could barely film. The camera movements came out shaky and blurry, but the boy in the video, the one getting his arse handed to him, was unmistakable. The very same boy sitting next to me right now.

I quickly clicked off the video and as I waited for 'Basic Sword-Fighting Techniques – recommended for you!' to load, I turned to Jamie with wide eyes. "Why…what…?"

He wasn't meeting my eye. "It was nothing, alright?"

"Who did that?" I stood, towering over him with my extra height.

"Jack…" he said quietly, nervously, like he expected me to pull the same thing those assholes did.

Those stupid, goddamn _cowards._

"Who did it, Jamie?"

"Jack, really, it was nothing—

"WHO DID THIS TO YOU?"

"This was YEARS AGO!" he yelled at me. "When I was in middle school, okay? It's nothing now!"

"If I had seen this happening, I would be in prison," I muttered bitterly.

Heather was quietly braiding and unbraiding the same lock of straight brown hair, not looking at either of us.

"Oh, God…" I muttered, pushing my hair back from my forehead. "Jamie, just tell me who did it."

"Jack, it's alright, they're gone!" snapped Jamie, looking angry. "Don't go getting yourself in trouble, because in case you haven't noticed, it's really important that you don't—

"So what?" I demanded. "You want me to…to IGNORE THIS? What, pretend like it _never happened_?"

"That'd be nice," Jamie replied testily. Without looking at me, he ran right out of the room, and I heard his sneakers pounding on the carpeted stairs. I wanted to run after him, but Heather's voice stopped me. "Jack…let him go."

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**A/N: This came out really angsty **


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